Strengthening of horizontal cortical connections following skill learning

Rioult-Pedotti, Mengia S.; Friedman, Daniel; Hess, Grzegorz; Donoghue, John P.

doi:10.1038/678

Cited by 621 publications

(406 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Increased spontaneous neuronal firing and synaptic efficacy induced by direct‐current stimulation may strengthen neuronal connectivity through long‐term potentiation‐like mechanisms41, 42, 43. These mechanisms may potentiate motor learning, which is also thought to depend on long‐term potentiation‐like plasticity occurring in the motor cortex44. Modulation of the motor network, including the primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor areas and basal ganglia, has been implemented in motor learning45 46.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of transcranial direct-current stimulation on laparoscopic surgical skill acquisition

et al. 2018

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BackgroundChanges in medical education may limit opportunities for trainees to gain proficiency in surgical skills. Transcranial direct‐current stimulation (tDCS) can augment motor skill learning and may enhance surgical procedural skill acquisition. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of tDCS on simulation‐based laparoscopic surgical skill acquisition.MethodsIn this double‐blind, sham‐controlled randomized trial, participants were randomized to receive 20 min of anodal tDCS or sham stimulation over the dominant primary motor cortex, concurrent with Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery simulation‐based training. Primary outcomes of laparoscopic pattern‐cutting and peg transfer tasks were scored at baseline, during repeated performance over 1 h, and again at 6 weeks. Intent‐to‐treat analysis examined the effects of treatment group on skill acquisition and retention.ResultsOf 40 participants, those receiving tDCS achieved higher mean(s.d.) final pattern‐cutting scores than participants in the sham group (207·6(30·0) versus 186·0(32·7) respectively; P = 0·022). Scores were unchanged at 6 weeks. Effects on peg transfer scores were not significantly different (210·2(23·5) in the tDCS group versus 201·7(18·1) in the sham group; P = 0·111); the proportion achieving predetermined proficiency levels was higher for tDCS than for sham stimulation. Procedures were well tolerated with no serious adverse events and no decreases in motor measures.ConclusionThe addition of tDCS to laparoscopic surgical training may enhance skill acquisition. Trials of additional skills and translation to non‐simulated performance are required to determine the potential value in medical education and impact on patient outcomes. Registration number: NCT02756052 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of transcranial direct-current stimulation on laparoscopic surgical skill acquisition

et al. 2018

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“…Analysis for these 2 groups was kept separate because it has been previously reported that plastic changes can occur to different extent in supra-and infragranular layers. [19][20][21][30][31][32] Arc positive cells were clearly identifiable as a strong cytoplasmic staining that occasionally extended into the most proximal dendrites, and in most cases were observed in layers V/VI. All sections were manually counted at least 2 times (reported values are the average), with a margin of error of less than 5% between the 2 measurements, giving us confidence that the counting procedure was reproducible.…”

Section: Motor Learning and Sleep Intensity-hanlon Et Almentioning

confidence: 97%

“…[19][20][21] We asked whether SWA shows a local increase in the trained motor cortex after learning to reach. Moreover, we examined whether skilled reaching increases the expression of Arc and Fos, 2 activity-dependent proteins involved in motor learning, [22][23][24] and whether this activation is specific for the trained motor area relative to other cortical areas.…”

Section: Sleep Is Present and Homeostatically Regu-lated In All Animamentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Skilled Training on Sleep Slow Wave Activity and Cortical Gene Expression in the Rat

Hanlon

Faraguna

Vyazovskiy

et al. 2009

Sleep

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SO FAR. IN MAMMALS, THE BEST CHARACTERIZED marker of sleep homeostasis is slow wave activity (SWA), the power density in the electroencephalogram (EEG) between 0.5 and 4 Hz during NREM sleep. SWA is high at sleep onset and declines during sleep, suggesting that it may reflect the accumulation of sleep pressure as a function of duration and/or intensity of prior waking. 1,2 Why and how SWA should reflect sleep homeostasis, however, is still unclear.We hypothesized that SWA is high at sleep onset because it reflects the occurrence, during waking, of widespread synaptic potentiation in cortical and subcortical areas. 3,4 This increase would be detrimental in the long term, because stronger synapses need more energy, space, and cellular supplies, and may lead to saturation of the ability to learn. Sleep would thus be crucial to renormalize synaptic strength to an energetically sustainable level. Molecular and electrophysiological markers of synaptic potentiation increase after waking in rat cortex and hippocampus, while markers of synaptic depression do so after sleep. 5,6 Moreover, in rats and humans, procedures presumably leading to synaptic potentiation or depression result in SWA increases and decreases, respectively. 7-12 More specifically, a study in humans using highdensity EEG found that performing a visuomotor learning task produced a local increase in SWA during subsequent sleep. 7 The increase was restricted to the right parietal cortical areas presumably modified by learning. 13 Moreover, it was specific for NREM sleep, reversible within the first 90 minutes of sleep, and correlated with the improvement in performance after sleep. 7 However, there is no direct evidence that the motor adaptation task used in that study activates neurons in parietal cortex, nor that it causes synaptic potentiation specifically in that region.Previous studies have suggested that activity-dependent genes activated during a specific waking experience may be reactivated during sleep, perhaps to potentiate the same synapses previously engaged during waking. 14 Ribeiro and colleagues found that the exposure to a new environment for 3 hours 15 results in the immediate cortical and hippocampal induction, during waking, of plasticity-related gene zif-268, 16 followed by its downregulation during NREM sleep, and then again by its increased expression during REM sleep (relative to NREM sleep). Intriguingly ~ 3 min of NREM sleep were enough to downregulate waking-induced zif-268 expression, and ~ 2 min of REM sleep were sufficient to detect its selective reinduction, even if both NREM and REM rats were awake during the last 30 min before sacrifice. Another study 17 recently found, using fluorescent in situ hybridization, that the number of hippocampal CA1 neurons showing induction of Arc and/or Homer1a was similar during "rest" periods before and after the exploration of a new environment. However, more cells were active during both exploration and post-task rest than during exploration and pre-task rest. Based on these findings, it h...

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“…Detectability means that there are changes at the synaptic level after an animal has learned or memorized something (e.g., Rioult-Pedotti et al, 1998;Whitlock et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time scales of memory, learning, and plasticity

et al. 2012

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If we stored every bit of input, the storage capacity of our nervous system would be reached after only about 10 days. The nervous system relies on at least two mechanisms that counteract this capacity limit: compression and forgetting. But the latter mechanism needs to know how long an entity should be stored: some memories are relevant only for the next few minutes, some are important even after the passage of several years. Psychology and physiology have found and described many different memory mechanisms, and these mechanisms indeed use different time scales. In this prospect we review these mechanisms with respect to their time scale and propose relations between mechanisms in learning and memory and their underlying physiological basis.

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Strengthening of horizontal cortical connections following skill learning

Cited by 621 publications

References 28 publications

Effects of transcranial direct-current stimulation on laparoscopic surgical skill acquisition

Effects of transcranial direct-current stimulation on laparoscopic surgical skill acquisition

Effects of Skilled Training on Sleep Slow Wave Activity and Cortical Gene Expression in the Rat

Time scales of memory, learning, and plasticity

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